A gradual canticle.

Canticum graduum.

(A song of ascents.)

Often have they fought against me from my youth, let Israel now say.

Sæpe expugnaverunt me a juventute mea, dicat nunc Israël;

Sore have they beset me even from my youth (let this be Israel’s boast);

Often have they fought against me from my youth: but they could not prevail over me.

sæpe expugnaverunt me a juventute mea: etenim non potuerunt mihi.

sore have they beset me even from my youth, but never once outmatched me.

The wicked have wrought upon my back: they have lengthened their iniquity.

Supra dorsum meum fabricaverunt peccatores; prolongaverunt iniquitatem suam.

I bent my back to the oppressor, and long was the furrow ere the plough turned;

The Lord who is just will cut the necks of sinners:

Dominus justus concidit cervices peccatorum.

but the Lord proved faithful, and cut the bonds of tyranny asunder.

let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Sion.

Confundantur, et convertantur retrorsum omnes qui oderunt Sion.

Let them be dismayed and routed, all these enemies of Sion.

Let them be as grass upon the tops of houses: which withereth before it be plucked up:

Fiant sicut fœnum tectorum, quod priusquam evellatur exaruit:

Let them be like the stalks on a house-top, that wither there unharvested;

Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand: nor he that gathereth sheaves his bosom.

de quo non implevit manum suam qui metit, et sinum suum qui manipulos colligit.

never will they be grasped in the reaper’s hand, or fill the binder’s bosom,

And they that passed by have not said: The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we have blessed you in the name of the Lord.

Et non dixerunt qui præteribant: Benedictio Domini super vos. Benediximus vobis in nomine Domini.

no passer-by will say, The Lord’s blessing on you; we bless you in the name of the Lord.